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Sister of Dreyfoos suspect: ‘I pray to God that he comes forward’

Sister of Dreyfoos suspect: ‘I pray to God that he comes forward’

Two days into a nationwide manhunt for her brother, Haydee Burgos remembers a conversation she had with him.

“For a while he has been telling me he has been having problems with his boss. I told him not to pay much attention to it,” Burgos told The Palm Beach Post on Friday afternoon. She said she told him not to fight with his supervisor or coworkers.

Authorities are now searching for Javier Burgos, 53, who is a suspect in the shooting deaths of his supervisor and a co-worker. All three men were custodians at Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts.

Ted Orama, Burgos’ supervisor, and Christopher Marshall were found shot to death in a maintenance area at the downtown West Palm Beach school Wednesday morning. Burgos didn’t show up for work Wednesday or Thursday, prompting officials to send out a nationwide BOLO (Be On The Lookout) alert for him.

According to sources, he is considered armed and dangerous.

Haydee Burgos, a custodian at Jupiter High School, said she hasn’t spoken to her brother in days and doesn’t know where to find him.

Records obtained from the Palm Beach County School District mirror what Burgos’ sister remembers of conversations with her brother, showing troubled relationships at work.

Haydee Burgos said her brother takes medication for depression. Fellow coworkers and neighbors have previously told the Post that Burgos may have mental problems and described him as having a strong and strange personality.

Burgos arrived at Dreyfoos in April 2009, but had worked for the Palm Beach County School District since 1999.

He started out as a school bus driver but was dismissed from the position while under probation, records obtained from the district show. His then boss, Yevola Falana, said Burgos abandoned his job after only two weeks of work.

When asked in 2004 if she would hire him again, she said no.

However, the district hired Burgos again in January 2005 as a custodian at Golden Grove Elementary in suburban West Palm Beach. In July 2005 he moved to Elbridge Gale Elementary in Wellington as a custodian and in September 2008 to Roosevelt Middle School in West Palm Beach. He started at Dreyfoos in April 2009.

Attempts to reach officials at the school district, whose offices were closed Friday, were unsuccessful.

Orama, 56, of Greenacres, and Marshall, 48, of West Palm Beach, had already been working at Dreyfoos by the time Burgos arrived. Orama, the lead custodian, had worked at the school since 2000 and Marshall since 2006.

In his evaluations from 2006 to 2010, Burgos was encouraged to work on his relationships with his coworkers and boss. He was told to work on being more positive and to work at not misunderstanding or misinterpreting situations before gathering all the information needed. In 2011, his evaluation said he started improving his relationships. He took a leave of absence, for an unknown reason, for about a month in 2012, records show.

Burgos has been married twice, according to records.

In 2010, he married Adriana Sepolveda in West Palm Beach. The two divorced a year later. When reached by phone Friday Sepolveda told the Post she hasn’t talked to Burgos since they divorced.

It was the second divorce for Burgos; the first one was finalized in 1998, court records show. It’s unclear when the couple married.

Burgos’ sister, Haydee Burgos, said she’s worried about her brother, because of the medication he takes for his depression. She said she doesn’t know where he is.

According to the alert for Burgos, he is likely driving a 2010 silver or aluminum Toyota Corolla. He is about 5-foot-4 and about 180 pounds. He is considered armed and dangerous.

“If I knew I would have already told him to turn himself in,” Haydee Burgos said. “I feel very sad for the families of those who died, and I pray to God that he comes forward.”